Qualcomm’s not satisfied

Shares of Qualcomm (QCOM) are down 7 cents at $65.21, after the company this morning said its board of directors, after meeting with Broadcom (AVGO) management this Wednesday, repeated its comment from week’s ago, namely that Broadcom’s offer to buy Qualcomm for $82 in cash and stock undervalues Qualcomm.

Qualcomm chairmanPaul Jacobs, however, also took exception to what he described as Broadcom’s intention to take control of Qualcomm’s licensing business, if the two should sign a deal, before the deal closes.

Jacobs said Qualcomm is still open to “further talks."

Nothing thus far from Broadcom on the matter, as far as I can see. Broadcom stock is down $2.08, or 0.8%, at $249.75.

Bernstein’s Stacy Rasgon, who has an Outperform rating on Broadcom and a Market Perform rating on Qualcomm, writes that the company’s comment it is willing to consider shareholder value “by selling the company,” means that "they have now put a sale of the business on the table as an actual option for the first time."

Arista can’t please everyone

Shares of Arista Networks (ANET) are down $56.66, or 18%, at $251.30, going lower as the session progresses, after it yesterday offered a forecast that was the first time since it went public in 2014 it didn’t “beat and raise."

Arista’s chief executive was philosophical about the matter, predicting the company will move pass a temporary slowdown in cloud sales, remarking that “you can’t make everyone happy all the time."

Bulls and bears both are defending the company today, though the bears feel the stock’s too rich to buy, including Gabelli’s Hendi Susanto, who cut his rating to Hold from Buy.

Impinj implodes again

Another one breaking down today is Impinj (PI), off $2.45, or 18%, at $10.98, after it held a conference call yesterday evening to explain its disappointing quarterly outlook, offered back on February 1st.

The new item today was that the company told analysts it will no longer provide a yearly forecast for the number of tag "endpoints" it will ship.

That withdrawal of guidance after what looks to be a rough first half of the year, means, said analysts, the company’s basically in limbo.

Energous needs execution

Another name going down today, albeit not as drastic, is wireless power startup Energous (WATT), down 26 cents, or 1.3%, at $20.10, after it yesterday afternoon reported Q4 revenue of $29,000 and a net loss of 50 cents.

Of course, Energous, which has yet to ship product, and so the bulls once again are entirely focused on “execution,” as they were in December when it said it got FCC approval for a test version of its wireless receiver.

Roth Capital’s William Gibson, using that very title — “All About Execution in 2018 — reiterates a Buy rating, and a $45.80 price target, writing that while the products will start shipping this year, he’s cutting his estimates for the full year.

For 2018, Gibson now sees revenue of $11.7 million, down from $22.8 million previously modeled. However, he also sees a smaller loss this year than he’d expected, perhaps just $1.47 versus the $1.67 he had previously modeled.

Facebook slapped

Shares of Facebook (FB) are down $2.70, or 1.5%, at $177.26, after the company was threatened by the Belgian commission for protection of privacy with a fine of as much as €100 million if it does not stop collecting data on users, as related by The Guardian’s Samuel Gibbs

As Gibbs relates, Facebook says it is “disappointing” with the verdict and plans to appeal.

Facebook shares drop almost 7% on Friday's disclosure of mishandling of user data by the consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, KLA-Tencor buys fellow chip equipment maker Orbotech, Deutsche Bank analysts are bullish on fiber optics name II-VI but negative on Arista Networks, GrubHub stock is getting pricey according to Stifel analyst John Egbert, Fitbit finds a new believer in Craig-Hallum's Alex Fuhrman, ex-chairman Paul Jacobs of Qualcomm is hoping analysts will vote in sympathy with him at the company's shareholder meeting on Friday, Dell topped server sales in Q4 and bumped aside Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Google's Diane Greene is mulling a big acquisition to boost the company's cloud services, Apple is moving forward with its own display technology called "micro LED," and Oracle is set to report results after the closing bell.

"While it's background noise for investors in the near-term, with the News Feed overhaul and other actions that Facebook has implemented over the past few months, its clear with more 'heat in
the kitchen from the Beltway' that further modest changes to their business model around advertising and news feeds/content could be in store over the next 12 to 18 months," analyst Daniel Ives wrote.

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